I have an old (pre-DPF) diesel car worth about £3k. I want a hybrid or electric car as the next one (if I still need one), or at the very least a lesser-polluting petrol car. The government is offering scrappage scheme for diesels, but even with that I’m a long way off being able to afford a new car, electric or otherwise.

Has anyone heard/have any idea if scrappage schemes are only just starting off and will become ever more tempting, or if now is the time to bite the bullet and there won’t be any more in the future?

A few months ago our 9 year old diesel Picasso had a number of faults which made it unreliable and unsaleable as it was. Rectifying the problems would cost what the car was worth – so basically it was worth nothing. We went to look at second hand cars and dropped in a Toyota dealer, he offered us £2k scrappage against their cheapest little aygo, which added to a 0% finance for 3 years started to make sense and that’s the route we took.
I never wanted a brand new car and it is very small, but we only need a little run around for town shopping etc. and we now have a camper, so for us the scrappage made sense. But may not for everyone.

My husband has just pre-ordered a Leaf 2, we have both previously had old diesels in the £500-£1500 bracket…it was very scary putting money down on a brand new car!!

Nissan don’t apply there part ex/ scrapage scheme to the new leaf, but there is a £5000 government incentive and a government grant for electric hook-up installation, assuming you have offroad parking and can prove it with land registry documents, we have exclusive use historically of a lay-by but it is not marked on land registry so husband spent this weekend taking down a dry stone wall and leveling a section of front garden ready for the hook up.

Husband does approx 25000 miles a year, and I will also be able to use it when I work on Sundays. He has worked out that it will pay for itself in approx. 5-6 years. It’s a long game financially, but environmentally the right thing to do. We just have to work out how to dog proof the boot next!!!

If you are not concerned about going full electric and happy with a hybrid there are some Hyundai ionic hybrids starting to come on the market second hand.

Your guess is as good as anyone’s. I got #3500 for my pug worth #1000 trade in. i think only #1000 is from the government, some of the rest comes from them selling the parts, e.g. doors, windscreen, wheels, tyres. The engine may well end up abroad being used there!
My punt is that as the vehicles become less ‘valuable’ the deals will decrease. Further there will disappear when the number coming through the schemes are not worth having the admin overhead for.

Worth considering part-exchanging the diesel against a 3yo electric, there are plenty available dropping out the bottom of the new-lease market and your diesel will go a long way toward covering the deposit. They’re keen to keep new ish second hand electrics moving so there are decent deals available.

Thanks all, definitely some good pointers there. I had intentionally avoided buying second hand as I would want a full manufacturers warranty behind any electric car I bought, and the cost of replacement batteries is scary. If ‘they’ are pushing to keep the second hand market working/growing, then perhaps this will become less of an issue. It’ll realistically be about a year until I can even realistically consider making the jump, so perhaps a lot will change in that time.

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